Refrigerating apparatus



NOV. 22, 1955 H- Q SWANK REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 9, 1952 ml *tu 4o f "uva Fig 3 INVENTOR.

BYHoward C. Swank.

WM Mwah Patented Nov. 22, 1955 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Howard Cecil Swank, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ghio, a corporation of Delaware Application August 9, 1952, Serial No. 303,489

z Claims. (ci. 257-8) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus for air conditioning a private home or the like.

It is an object of this inventionto` provide a low cost air conditioning unit which is capable of using both the cooling capacity of the basement air and also the existing air distributing ducts of the conventional blower system of a winter heating system for supplying conditioned air to the rooms of the house.

It has long been recognized that the air which contacts the relatively cool walls in the basement of a home is a potential source of limited cooling but the amount of cooling available from this source alone is not enough to warrant operating the blower system of a forced air furnace. Various arrangements have been proposed from time to time for installing a refrigerating system in the furnace room of a home so as to utilize the existing air distributing ducts of the furnace for distributing the cold air but these prior arrangements have either beenvery expensive or have otherwise been unsatisfactory. One of the reasons for this is that the introduction of refrigerated air directly into the conventional uninsulated air ducts in the basement causes condensation from the damp basement air onto the exterior surface of the ducts. Furthermore, when the refrigerated air of the prior art systems is caused 'to circulate through the air passages in the furnace, the interior walls of the re box become so cold that condensation takes place thereon and this condensation, when mixed with soot and other products of combustion in the fire box, causes the fire boX to rust out very quickly.

It is an object of this invention to mount a low cost window-type air conditioning unit in one of the windows `in the furnace room so as to remove moisture from and cool the air in the furnace and to use the forced air circulating system of the furnace for circulating the air thus conditioned to one or more of the rooms in the house.

The conventional forced air distributing system in a home includes means for selectively shutting off the `iiow of air to one or more of the rooms. This latter means usually takes the form of air dampers mounted at the outlets leading to the various rooms. It is an object of this invention to so arrange a low cost air conditioning unit that when refrigerated air is being circulated to the rooms these same dampers may be used for controlling the distribution of refrigerated air into the various rooms.

Another object of this invention is to provide an air conditioning system wherein all of the air in the furnace room is cooled and dehumidified so as to prevent rusting of the metal parts of the furnace.

Still another object of this invention is to so mount a window air conditioning unit that it will not occupy any valuable space and may be left in place all seasons of the year.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevational view with parts broken away showing somewhat diagrammatically a conventional residence provided with my improved type of air conditioning system;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view showing somewhat diagrammatically one form of unit used for refrigerating the basement air; and

Figure 3 is a plan view with parts broken away showing a different form of unit which may be used.

Referring now to the drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of my invention is clearly shown, reference numeral l0 is used to designate a conventional dwelling having a furnace or utility room 12 located in the basement and a plurality of rooms 14 to be conditioned. The particular construction and arrangement of the rooms has been shown by way of illustration only as the invention is equally applicable to other arrangements including those arrangements in which the furnace may be mounted in a utility room or the like located on the rst door and some of the rooms to be conditioned are located above the first floor rooms. The system operates mose eiciently when the furnace roomis mounted in` the basement since the holdover cooling capacity of the basement walls serves to supplement the cooling capacity of the mechanical refrigeration system.

A conventional forced air heating system including a furnace lo and a fan or blower unit 18 is mounted in the furnace room l2v Air distributing ducts 2d are connected as shown to the outlet side of the furnace 16 and serve to convey the conditioned air to manually controlled outlet grills 22 located in the various rooms of the house in accordance with conventional practice. A return air duct 24 is provided for returning air from the rooms t0 the inlet 26 of the blower unit 18. Return air grills 28 are provided as shown at the entrances to the return air duct 24. Conventional air filters 30 are provided in the blower unit 18 for filtering the air entering the blower inlet 26. The construction described thus far is intended to represent the conventional forced air heating system of the type commonly used in private homes.

The basement air is commonly several degrees cooler than the air in the rest of the house due to the fact that the ground 27 surrounding the basement walls 29 protects the basement walls from the suns rays and the mean temperature of the ground itself is considerably less than the prevailing summer air temperatures. Consequently the basement air may be used for cooling the other rooms in the house, but the amount of cooling available is wholly inadequate to air condition the home during any prolonged hot spell. According to this invention a conventional window-type air conditioning unit 32 is used to supplement the cooling capacity of the basement air and is mounted in one of thewbasement window openings 34 for removing both moisture and heat from the air in the basement. Thus this unit comprises a cabinet 4l) which serves to house a refrigerating system including an evaporator 42, a condenser 44, a compressor 48 and an air circulating fan assembly 50. The fan assembly Si) includes a condenser fan 52 which serves to circulate outside air in through the air inlets 54 and out through an air outlet 56. The fan assembly also includes a fan titi which circulates basement air in through the inlets 62 over the evaporator 42 and out through the outlet 64. The moisture which condenses on` the evaporator collects in the condensate pan 65 and is thereafter conducted to a pan 69 into which the fan 52 dips so as to atomize the water and ding it onto the condenser 44 where it is at least partially evaporated before being discharged into the outside air. The air conditioning unit 32 is intended to represent a conventional window sill mounted type of air conditioning unit such as commonly used for conditioning air in offices, bedrooms and `other places. y

By operating the air conditioning unit 32, it is obvious that heat and moisture are removed from the basement air and discharged into the outside air flowing over the condenser 44. In order to facilitate the circulation of the basement air through the rooms to be conditioned, the lid 70 which normally serves to give access to the filters mounted in the blower compartment of the forced air system is left open so that air from the basement is free to circulate down through the filters into the inlet 26 of the blower 18. A damper 72 is provided as shown for blocking the flow of air through the lower portion of the air return duct. As shown in Figure l, a damper 74 has been provided in one wall of the return air ducts ahead of the damper 72 so as to allow the return air to enter the main furnace room where it will mix with the refrigerated air before being recirculated through the rest of the rooms of the dwelling.

One of the advantages of mounting a window-type air conditioning unit in a basement window rather than in one of the upstairs windows is that the window unit does not take up valuable space and does not detract from the appearance of the occupied rooms. It is common practice for many owners of window air-conditioning units to remove the units in the fall of the year and to store them in the basement but this involves a great deal of work and inconvenience, whereas with an arrangement of the type disclosed herein the window unit may be left in place and need not be removed from the basement window.

As shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, a special bracket 71 may be provided for supporting the window unit 32 in such a manner that the window unit may be partially retracted from the main window opening during the winter season if desired without lifting the unit down away from the window opening. A hinged closure member 72 may be provided for closing the window and protecting the window unit 32 during the winter season.

In Figure 3 of the drawing there is shown a modified type of window air conditioning unit 32a wherein the entire unit may be disposedlon the basement side of the basement wall so as to protect the unit from the suns rays and so as to eliminate the need for moving the window air conditioning unit from one season to the other. In this latter type of window air conditioning unit the condenser cooling air is brought in through onehalf of the rear portion of the unit as indicated by the reference numeral 74 and is discharged out through the other half of the unit as indicated by the reference numeral 76 with the result that it is not necessary to have the window unit project into the outside air. During the winter season the unit may be protected by means of a removable insulating panel such as the panel designated by the reference numeral 78.

For purposes of illustration the window unit 32 has been shown Vsupported on a wall bracket 71 whereas it is obvious that any other form of support could be provided. Thus in place of the bracket 71, mounting straps could be provided for supporting the window unit from the basement ceiling. Inasmuch as the refrigeration system shown in the unit 32 is similar in operation to the refrigeration unit shown in the unit 32a except for the condenser air circuit, the same reference characters have been used to designate similar parts.

The window air conditioning unit may be manually controlled by manually starting and stopping the compressor or it may be controlled automatically in response to the temperature either in the furnace room 12 or one of the rooms 14.., For purposes of illustrating the invention, a thermostat 80, located in the unit 32 so as to respond to the temperature of the basement air, serves to start and stop the compressor 48 in response to the temperature of the basement air as it enters the unit 32. A separate thermostat 82 serves to close the dampers 70 and 74 and to open the damper 72 whenever the temperature in the conditioned space reaches a predetermined low value such as 70 degrees. By virtue of the above described control arrangement the air in the occupied rooms is not allowed to stratify when no cooling of the air is called for. If desired the thermostat 82 could also be used for rendering the window air conditioning unit 32 inoperative when no cooling is required, but the disadvantage of this would be that the refrigerating system would not tend to store up cooling capacity when the thermostat 82 indicates that cooling is not required whereas the unit 32 can store up considerable cooling capacity in the basement during cool periods for use during hot periods.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a prefered form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

l. The combination with a forced air heating system of the type having a furnace located in the furnace room and having a blower and having supply and return air ducts connecting the furnace to the space to be conditioned, a window mounted type of air cooling and dehumidifying unit having an evaporator and a condenser mounted in a window of the furnace room and including first means for circulating air from said furnace room over said evaporator independently of said forced air heating system for refrigerating and dehumidifying the air surrounding said furnace to a temperature lower than the temperature of the air in the space to be conditioned and having a second means for circulating outside air over said condenser for discharging the heat and moisture removed from said air into the outside atmosphere through said window in said furnace room, and means for mixing the air circulated by said forced air heating system with the air surrounding said furnace, said last named means including means in the return air duct for diverting the return air into the space surrounding said furnace so as to mix said return air with said surrounding air, and means for thereafter admitting air from said cooled and dehumidified mixture to the inlet of said supply ducts whereby the air mixture is distributed through said supply and return air ducts by said furnace blower.

2. The combination with a forced air heating system of the type having a furnace located in the furnace room and having a blower and having supply and return air ducts connecting the furnace to the space to be conditioned, a window mounted type of air cooling and dehumidifying unit having an evaporator and a condenser mounted in a window of the furnace room and including first means for circulating air from said furnace room over said evaporator independently of said forced air heating system for refrigerating and dehumidifying the air surrounding said furnace to a temperature lower than the temperature of the air in the space to be conditioned and having a second means for circulating outside air over said condenser for discharging the heat and moisture removed from said air into the outside atmosphere through said window in said furnace room, and means for mixing the air circulated by said forced air heating system with the air surrounding said furnace, said last named means including means in the return air duct for diverting the return air into the space surrounding said furnace so as to mix said return air with said surrounding air, and means for thereafter admitting air from said cooled and dehumidified mixture to the inlet of said supply ducts whereby the air mixture is distributed through said supply and return air ducts by said furnace blower, said cooling and dehumidifying means further including a condensate collecting pan below said evaporator References Cited in the le of 'this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Whitmer et al. Mar. 31, 1936 6 Roland May 24, 1938 Dodge Dec. 27, 1938 Lamm Oct. 31, 1939 McGrath Mar. 7, 1944 Terry et al. May 16, 1944 Edgerley Apr. 22, 1952 Borgerd July 7, 1953 

